Apparently pumas can do an excellent imitation of a woman screaming in terror, to the point that law enforcement is sometimes called out.

I don't know what it was that I heard often living in Northern Virginia, but there was some critter making noise many nights that for all the world sounded like it should have been in a horror movie.

I'd bet either raccoons or foxes. While I'm not quite sure exactly what noises are raccoons, foxes have an amazing range of sounds.

One night, something was making this horrible, gut-wrenching noise like some poor creature was being tortured. The next day, the neighbor told me that her daughter had woken her up begging, "Mommy, make it stop." It didn't quite sound like a fox, so I'm guessing it was a raccoon.

We have lynx here in Ontario. They are a small wild cat, a little bigger than a bob cat, I think, but distinguished by very fluffy ear tufts. They can scream. I grew up in a rural area on 5 acres. My bedroom faced the bush. I was wakened more than one night by the scream of a lynx.

Logged

After cleaning out my Dad's house, I have this advice: If you haven't used it in a year, throw it out!!!!.

We have lynx here in Ontario. They are a small wild cat, a little bigger than a bob cat, I think, but distinguished by very fluffy ear tufts. They can scream. I grew up in a rural area on 5 acres. My bedroom faced the bush. I was wakened more than one night by the scream of a lynx.

The lynx latin name is 'lynx canadensis'. The bobcat's latin name is 'lynx rufus'. So they are related but not the same species.

The lynx is slightly larger and has a more northern range, right up past the arctic circle. The bobcat range only goes slightly north of the 49th parallel, according to the book. The lynx has bigger ear tufts, is lighter in colour and the entire tail tip is black. The bobcat has spots on its legs and belly and the tip of the tail is only black on the top, according to the pictures.

I learned something today!

Logged

After cleaning out my Dad's house, I have this advice: If you haven't used it in a year, throw it out!!!!.

Growing up my next door neighbors had horses and a barn cat to keep the mice away from the hay. That cat sounded just like a baby crying when she got going. She was fine, as far as we can tell just bored.

A cat in heat will often sound like a baby crying, especially if it has Siamese blood. My Siamese in full cry once woke the woman across the street, who thought that her baby was crying. I guess I'm lucky she didn't call the cops and report an abandoned infant.

My MALE half Siamese cat does this and it is LOUD. He drags around various stuffed animals and tries to get amorous with them. It is both annoying and hysterical. FTR, he's been neutered since he was about 4 months old, but he still tries. He occasionally tries the female cats, but they are wise to his antics.

Logged

Meditate. Live purely. Quiet the mind. Do your work with mastery. Like the moon, come out from behind the clouds! Shine. ---Gautama Buddah

A few weeks back, my parents and I were about to take a trip. My mother had a doctor's appointment in the morning, so we were waiting for her to return so we could leave.

Suddenly my mother rushes in, calling loudly and frantically to my father and demanding to know where the cat was. My father, as perplexed as I was, replied that he was asleep on the window ledge in the spare bedroom. My mother instantly looked very relieved, although very pale.

Turns out that a cat had been hit by a car right in front of our house, and from what she could see, it looked a lot like our beloved kitty Cocoa. I had to make a run to the shops a while later, and... well, it wasn't pretty at all, and I could see why she'd mistaken it for our boy. We lost our other cat to old age about two years ago, and that was hard enough. My mother was nearly crying when she came into the house, and she was shaking when she hugged me in relief that it wasn't Cocoa.

We still don't know who the poor cat belonged to. If posters get put up, we're going to have to have a very distressing conversation with the owners...

A few weeks back, my parents and I were about to take a trip. My mother had a doctor's appointment in the morning, so we were waiting for her to return so we could leave.

Suddenly my mother rushes in, calling loudly and frantically to my father and demanding to know where the cat was. My father, as perplexed as I was, replied that he was asleep on the window ledge in the spare bedroom. My mother instantly looked very relieved, although very pale.

Turns out that a cat had been hit by a car right in front of our house, and from what she could see, it looked a lot like our beloved kitty Cocoa. I had to make a run to the shops a while later, and... well, it wasn't pretty at all, and I could see why she'd mistaken it for our boy. We lost our other cat to old age about two years ago, and that was hard enough. My mother was nearly crying when she came into the house, and she was shaking when she hugged me in relief that it wasn't Cocoa.

We still don't know who the poor cat belonged to. If posters get put up, we're going to have to have a very distressing conversation with the owners...

As someone whose cat went missing 6 years ago and I still don't know if he is alive or dead the conversation might be distressing but it is much better then always wondering what happened. Although I did get three calls from people who said they ran over my cat (it was dark and I didn't see him and then he ran into the woods - I don't blame them for it and it took courage to call) and obviously they all couldn't have done it so it didn't help with the closure as much as actually having a body to verify it was him would be.

A few weeks back, my parents and I were about to take a trip. My mother had a doctor's appointment in the morning, so we were waiting for her to return so we could leave.

Suddenly my mother rushes in, calling loudly and frantically to my father and demanding to know where the cat was. My father, as perplexed as I was, replied that he was asleep on the window ledge in the spare bedroom. My mother instantly looked very relieved, although very pale.

Turns out that a cat had been hit by a car right in front of our house, and from what she could see, it looked a lot like our beloved kitty Cocoa. I had to make a run to the shops a while later, and... well, it wasn't pretty at all, and I could see why she'd mistaken it for our boy. We lost our other cat to old age about two years ago, and that was hard enough. My mother was nearly crying when she came into the house, and she was shaking when she hugged me in relief that it wasn't Cocoa.

We still don't know who the poor cat belonged to. If posters get put up, we're going to have to have a very distressing conversation with the owners...

As someone whose cat went missing 6 years ago and I still don't know if he is alive or dead the conversation might be distressing but it is much better then always wondering what happened. Although I did get three calls from people who said they ran over my cat (it was dark and I didn't see him and then he ran into the woods - I don't blame them for it and it took courage to call) and obviously they all couldn't have done it so it didn't help with the closure as much as actually having a body to verify it was him would be.

Noted. We'll keep an eye out for missing cat posters. Unfortunately there's about five houses in the immediate area that have black cats, so we can't really use detective work to figure out whose cat it was.

For scariest--this wasn't me, but my parents (and therefore where I grew up). There were some tornadoes last week. They attend church in one town (the one most heavily hit) and live in another ... it's one of those areas where the towns are so close that you don't leave built up area, so that's not unusual.

I don't know if it was the same one or not, but they were at church when the tornadoes came through. One passed a quarter mile from the church. After, they went home ... only to find out they couldn't (had to stop at the shelter which was in the grade school I had attended) because the tornado had hit three blocks from their house. Eventually, the police did let them walk home (impossible to drive), and so they did, not knowing until they got there if they had a house to walk home to.

Thankfully, their house was fine (they were, however, without power for a few days). Although around 1500 homes were destroyed/damaged too much for someone to live in, that's just property that can be replaced, and only one person lost his life.

And as if to show just how capricious a tornado can be--friends of my parents--their house was destroyed, but their wedding album showed up--undamaged--140 miles away.

Tornadoes do weird things. We had a little bitty F1 come through the back yard about 15 years ago. No major damage to us at all; it sucked out a window that was already cracked, took the top off the bird feeder and filled just one of the two compartments with dirt, and twisted the tops off the neighbor's trees and threw them in our yard. Lifted up, went about a quarter mile down the road, dropped down again and inflicted major damage on some houses under construction.

Logged

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~Common sense is not a gift, but a curse. Because thenyou have to deal with all the people who don't have it. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~